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Jones has busy day talking about playoffs

Jones has busy day talking about playoffs

NEW YORK -- Thanks to night games, a typical day for a Major League baseball player rarely involves many morning activities. But for Orioles center fielder Adam Jones, Tuesday began unusually early.

Two days after Baltimore's regular season ended, Jones embarked on a day-long tour of interviews and appearances that took him from the WFAN-AM studios in Manhattan's West Village to the MLB Network studios in Seacaucus, N.J. -- and several more stops in between.

"In New York, usually, I just hang out," Jones, 25, said of his typical routine before a 7 p.m. game. "Definitely go out to lunch. I just walk around, kill some time. I usually wake up around 11, so that helps move the day along. Definitely don't do as much as I'm doing right now, but it's fun."

This year's playoff teams include several young players in critical roles -- Evan Longoria, B.J. Upton, Buster Posey and Jason Heyward to name a few. Jones, a 2009 All-Star and Gold Glove winner, helped lead an Orioles club that played 57 of its 162 games against these playoff clubs. That includes 18 apiece against Rays and the Yankees, Baltimore's foes in the American League East. If any player is qualified to discuss the eight remaining teams and their postseason chances, Jones is.

So Jones, a San Diego native who still returns to Southern California during the offseason, spent one day of his week-long stay in New York talking about the 2010 playoffs with several media outlets.

Jones capped his day on MLB Network's "Path to the Pennant" in the field-mimicking Studio 42. There he talked to Greg Amsinger and Mitch Williams about the reasons -- "accountability and credibility" -- for the Orioles' 34-23 finish under new manager Buck Showalter. With Texas' Cliff Lee and Tampa Bay's David Price set to square off in Game 1 of the AL Division Series on Wednesday, Jones discussed with Al Leiter his approach against the dominant lefties. Then he showed Billy Ripken how his positioning in center field compares with Upton's.

Eight hours earlier, at 9:20 a.m., Jones had started his day with a trip to the WFAN studios for an appearance with Boomer Esiason and Craig Carton. He unveiled his World Series prediction -- Rays against the Phillies -- and listened as Esiason and Carton jokingly offered to represent the outfielder as he entered his first year of salary arbitration.

After his WFAN appearance, Jones traveled back to Midtown for a satellite interview with Jay Crawford of ESPN's First Take. With Minnesota set to face CC Sabathia in Wednesday's Game 1 of the ALDS, Crawford asked Jones for the reasons behind a 9-for-27 (.333) career mark against Sabathia.

"I just look at him as a pitcher who gets ahead," Jones said. "He pitches me in a certain way. I try to get to him before he gets to me. When he gets two strikes, he is one of the best strikeout pitchers in baseball."

Jones and Crawford talked of the outfielder's plans to help Orioles teammate Rick VandenHurk in a series of clinics in VandenHurk's native Netherlands in November. The host listed Dutch delicacies and asked Jones what he would be willing to sample. Paling, an oily freshwater eel, was dismissed -- "Not eating that," Jones said -- but hagelslag, chocolate sprinkles added to bread, did get the seal of approval.

Jones followed his ESPN interview with two phone interviews -- one with Kyle Stack of amNewYork and another with Jorge Ortiz of USA Today. Then he went to Sports Illustrated's offices, where he met with reporter Richard Deitsch and answered questions from the magazine's baseball writers and editors before doing a video interview for SI.com. After a live telephone interview on ESPN Radio's The Scott Van Pelt Show, Jones headed across the Hudson River to the MLB Network's studios.

Jones maintains an active Twitter account (The_Adam_Jones) and provided updates of his day. "Got the belt I so desperately needed," he posted in the late morning. After visiting MLB Network, he posted a picture with the caption: "I got to sign the Wall of Fame. Such an honor."

"I've been trying to keep up with it," Jones said of Twitter. "Sometimes it gets me in trouble, sometimes it gets annoying. But that's the fun part about it, you get to hear people's true opinions, and that's all a part of it."

One of those opinions came from Deitsch himself on Twitter. Soon after Jones stopped by, Deitsch posted, "Intelligent & thoughtful guy. Honest answers to Q's. I was impressed."

At 25, Jones has some time to think about his post-career plans, but his early taste has him considering building on Tuesday's appearances.

"It's a long way off, but it's something that's a personality thing," Jones said. "Not everybody can be on TV, not everybody can sound educated. So it's pretty cool to be able to use my personality."

Thomas Boorstein is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.